2014 German Vázquez Rubio "Concert Blanca" w/Pegs No. 41614 SP/CY

This 2014 German Vázquez Rubio “Concert Blanca” No. 41614 is a flamenco guitar with a spruce top and cypress back and sides, made in Los Angeles, California – fitted with Planetary pegs.

The “Concert Blanca”

German chose very high-quality materials, a pleasure to look at: a perfectly quarter-sawn spruce top and elegant cypress for the back and sides. The shellac finish has been applied with the kind of perfection very few makers attain. Extremely responsive and open, it has plenty of volume and character, with very clear trebles that are easy to work with and steady, full basses.

Planetary Pegs and Label

Playability is a dream, with a very low flamenco action. It has “Planetary Pegs”, which look like traditional friction pegs but are machined to work like normal tuning machines, so it tunes quickly and easily. The label is signed by German, dated 2014 and numbered 41614.

German Vázquez Rubio: Early Years in Paracho, Mexico

German Vázquez Rubio (also known as G.V. Rubio) has been making guitars since 1968 – over fifty years – and has developed his own signature sound that guitarists have come to love. He was born in 1952 in Paracho, Mexico, where there is an abundance of fine luthiers (with few exceptions, all of the finest guitars in Mexico come from Paracho). German’s first formal training began at eleven years old, when he left school to help support his seven siblings and went to work in the workshop of his uncle, Manuel Rubio. There, even at his young age, he made a conscious effort to make guitar building his life’s work.

“Desde 1968”

In 1968, at the age of sixteen, he made his first concert-level guitar (hence his label reads “Desde 1968”). German has since been able to learn from many different master builders such as Félix Manzanero, José Romanillos and Thomas Humphrey. He now resides in Los Angeles, California, where he builds a variety of both classical and flamenco models. He is also the maker of the real-life guitar from the Disney/Pixar film Coco – you can read more in our article on German Vázquez Rubio and the real Coco guitar.

First Prize in Mexico

In 2000, German won First Place at the Concurso Nacional de Constructores y Ejecutantes de Guitarras, Mexico’s national guitar-making competition.